AS SEEN ON:
WHY LOUISIANA IS THE INSHORE
FISHING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Editor’s note: Marsh & Bayou has teamed up with one of Louisiana’s fastest growing, fishing
websites: LOUISIANA FISHING BLOG. Owner and operator, Capt. Devin Denman and his crew
have done a wonderful job and we are excited to be working with them. Each issue we’ll bring you the
blog’s best content of the month, along with some extra’s. Be sure to check them out at: www.lafishblog.com
Michael Crapanzano
LA Fishing Blog member
with a full dock load!
P
eople post dock shots to our Facebook,
and inevitably, the “creel police” come out and
wonder why there are dozens too many trout in
the picture. It’s not their fault, they just don’t
know the incredible fishing we have here in
Louisiana. Let’s bring everyone up to speed why
Louisiana is the heavyweight champion of inshore fishing.Two men stood under the faint
light of a single fluorescent lightbulb. Crowded
by cobwebs, the lightbulb did its best to illuminate the boat slip underneath it. The men were
old Marine Corps buddies and had worked together in Baghdad for a number of years, but
their similarities only began there. They both
grew up fishing in Gulf Coast states, one in
Louisiana, the other in Florida. Furthermore,
they were both charter captains from their respective areas. After what seemed an eternity,
they were finally launching a boat together to
go fishing.
The bone white Pathfinder 2200V floated
under its own buoyancy as the hoist groaned to
a stop. Comfortable with the moving deck of a
freely floating boat, the two of them quickly
loaded the cooler, fishing rods, and tackle boxes
before shoving off. They made their way down
Bayou Yscloskey past Campo’s before getting
on plane in the morning twilight.
The Pathfinder zipped down down Bayou La
Loutre at a brisk 40 miles per hour as the sun
began to fully illuminate the surrounding marsh.
One brother could sense the other stirring
somewhat uncomfortably before asking what
was the matter. “When are we going to stop
and fish?!” exclaimed the Florida native. Perplexed, the Louisiana man looked around, then
back at his friend before meekly pointing out
that they were not to the first fishing spot yet.
“But we passed up so many good looking
areas!” Assuring him everything was perfectly
normal, the Louisiana man got the Pathfinder
back on plane. The young Floridian shifted his
“IT’S JUST SO VAST”
gaze to the endless expanse of the prairie
marsh before the Louisiana man heard him mutter, “It’s just so vast.”
Those are words that have always stuck with
me. The look of awe on Tater’s face and the way
he said it resonated with me in a way that I will
never forget them. That day was really fun and
productive because we were able to “crosstrain” one another. I learned the ways of the
Florida inshore angler, and he learned some
techniques we use here in Louisiana. He was really surprised to learn of our creel limits and how
they contrasted with those in Florida. He couldn’t believe how good the fishing was here and
he never would have pegged Louisiana for
being such a great fishery. You can’t blame him,
the majority of pictures of bikini-clad babes
wielding speckled trout come from Florida.
When one thinks of the stereotypical “salt life”
they think of places like Florida and Hawaii, not
Louisiana. For whatever reason that is beyond
me, whenever non-Louisianans hear
“Louisiana”, they think of Hurricane Katrina or
the BP Oil Spill. I cringe every time someone
mentions one of the two because they are so
distant in the past. Katrina made landfall over
ten years ago; does Louisiana have anything
else that is noteworthy? Yes, she does. One of
those things would be her fishing. Everything
from freshwater to offshore fishing she does
well, but we are discussing her crown jewel: inshore fishing.
WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT
OUR INSHORE FISHING?
Filling a cooler with speckled trout is commonplace in Louisiana.In a nutshell, there is a lot
of it. We have the most marsh out of any state
on the Gulf or eastern seaboard. We boast the
highest creel limits for speckled trout, redfish,
bass, flounder, and more. It is normal to pull up
to a spot in places like Delacroix and catch
speckled trout, redfish, bass, and black drum
with every cast until the cooler is full. However,
let us focus on s X